The square is called Vrijdagmark, and it ltranslates to “Friday Market”. I captured the image with my Sony a7Cii and Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 lens in RAW mode.
The statue in the square is of Jacob van ArteveldeThe textiles industry in Ghent was revived and Artevelde was hailed a hero. In 1345 he was murdered during a riot. Since 1863 his statue at Vrijdagmarkt has been pointing to England.
I loaded the photo into Lightroom and did some standard adjustments, unsure of what the final image would be. Then, I loaded that image into Photoshop.
I don’t like having the people in that shot as it takes the timelessness of the photo away in my opinion. So, they had to go. Then I realized I preferred a black and white rendition.
Ultimately, the composition was too long and wide, and the main subject, the statue, wasn’t in a great position. So, I cropped the image to place him in the top right third, with his hand pointing into the photo, keeping your attention inside the frame.
The exact cropping meant the building at the lower left had to have a bit of it rebuilt. Photoshop to the rescue.
And here is the final image:
